1. Equity Happens in the Classroom:
A Professional Development Program for Systemic Change
Presenters: Monica Brown, Sarah Klotz, Katherine MacKinnon, and Emelia Michels-Ratliff

2. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
“While we must be candid about the realities of inequities across social and economic structures, we must also be willing to disrupt the current systems.”
America’s Unmet Promise: The Imperative for Equity in Higher Education
Keith Witham, Lindsey E. Malcom-Piqueux, Alicia C. Dowd, and Estela M. Bensimon

3. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Goal of Program?
Structure of Program?
Whom to invite?
Empower faculty; create more equity-minded champions who can take the lead in equity-based inquiry in their own classrooms and encourage others to do the same
College data, instructor level data, and inquiry research; Community of support
All faculty

4. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Leadership
Leading from the Middle
Equity
USC / CUE
Inquiry
Action Research
What is
F.A.I.R.
Classrooms?

5. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
All of our students come to us with life-changing hopes, dreams, and goals. How else can we explain a student's willingness to take a two hour bus ride to get to our classrooms? Students sleeping in their cars on campus between a work shift and their class time? A father waiting in the hallway with his infant so that a breast-feeding mother can attend class? We want to believe that all of our students leave our classes one step closer to achieving those hopes, goals, and dreams, but that is not always the case. Our college-level data suggests that our institution does not offer the same opportunities for achieving their goals to all groups of students. We believe that the greatest opportunity to change this lies in what happens in the classroom between a teacher and a student. We as faculty are committed to our students, but we may lack the knowledge and tools to engage all of our students successfully. Boy, do we have an opportunity for you! We can help you access data about how different groups of students are performing in your courses, develop processes and tools for inquiring into your own classroom practices, and build a community of support with like-minded faculty who are also seeking to improve opportunities for all our students, not just some of them. Our team can put a suite of tools and resources at your disposal, and assist you in designing your inquiry process.

6. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
By the conclusion of this program, participants will:
Create a community dedicated to reducing equity gaps through evidence-based inquiry and practices 
Become aware of equity gaps in their own classrooms 
Inquire into their instructional practice to identify and/or respond to potential contributing factors to these gaps 
Identify, create, and share tools and materials that support these processes

7. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Creating a Community:
Community-building exercises
Four Agreements and open communication
Acknowledge and practice vulnerability

8. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Becoming aware of gaps:
Understanding how gaps are calculated
Understanding college-wide data
Reflecting on personal values
Gaining access to and understanding one’s own equity data

9. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Name and gender of subgroup
Number of enrollments and successes
Success rate by group
Success rate for all students
Size of gap
Is it an equity gap?

10. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Participant questions on data and gaps:
“The gaps are identified by measuring the subgroups against all completions. If more students in the subgroups complete, doesn’t that increase the % of all completions?”
“Is the only way to become equitable if more white students fail?”

11. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Katherine’s additional questions:
Are there differences in equity outcomes for students in my courses by subject area (Reading vs. Writing)?
Are there changes in equity outcomes for students in my courses over time?

12. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research

13. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research

14. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Participant reactions after receiving their own data:

15. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Developing inquiry into practice:
Reflect on personal values and history
Reflect on areas of concern and success within data
Select an area to investigate further
Design inquiry; meet with facilitator to develop

16. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
One Equity Tool Introduced:
USC CUE’s Syllabus Review Protocol was introduced to examine a syllabus through an equity-minded lens.
To continue establishing trust and community, participants were asked to review a facilitator’s old syllabus.

17. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Feedback from a participant, post-session:
“Really enlightening discussion at today’s gathering! I was especially blown away with the information and discourse regarding the syllabus. Over the years with all the ‘legalistic’ language faculty has been required/strongly encouraged to incorporate into our syllabus (often from administration or from past challenging student behavior), I feel the humanity has been scrubbed from my syllabus! My syllabus is up for a radical re-design next semester!”

18. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Identify, Create, and Share Tools:
Identify what tools, support, data or resources will help support the inquiry process
Develop and implement inquiry project
Gather initial observations, results or reactions
Share tools and observations both within the community of practice and outward

19. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Ongoing Professional Development

20. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Resources
FAIR Classrooms Resources Or

21. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
What parts of the FAIR Classrooms program have been most valuable for you?
“The conversations about specific student populations and specific aspects of our practices have been inspirational. My notes are filled with concrete new ideas for assignments and activities I may use that are oriented towards achieving equity-related goals. There is also a very valuable level of motivation within this group and during our sessions. Rejuvenating, exciting, purposeful.”

22. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
What parts of the FAIR Classrooms program have been most valuable for you?
“Raised awareness… receiving my data and being able to reflect on how my practice impacts students.. Sometimes I feel so ‘alone’ when thinking about my concerns about education – it’s comforting to know that there is a community of teachers and researchers.”
“It is changing how I think! Not just with respect to teaching – but how I relate across campus being a faculty member on various academic committees!”

23. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
What’s Next?
F.A.I.R. Classrooms in spring
Waitlist from fall, polled additional faculty for interest
Continued curriculum revisions & more equity tools
Continued individualized support for “grads”
Longitudinal equity data evaluation

24. F.A.I.R. Classrooms Faculty Alliance for Inquiry and Research
Questions?
A special Thank You to USC CUE, RP Group and the Leading From the Middle Academy team members!